Lady Raiders put forth effort in 7-1 victory
Holly Tonini
Waynesburg Central’s Tayler Benson (14) runs through Uniontown’s Crystal Bryson (22) and Alyssa Machesky during a match at Waynesburg Central on Wednesday evening.
Uniontown's Sara Brown (1) and Waynesburg Central's Tayler Benson fight for control of the ball during a match at Waynesburg Central on Wednesday evening.
Uniontown's Rosie Rishel (18) dribbles the ball past Lady Raiders Lily Behm (9) and Morgan Kijowski Wednesday during a match at Waynesburg Central.
Waynesburg Central's Anna Arkowsky (12) keeps the ball away from Uniontown's Sara Brown during a match Wednesday evening at Waynesburg Central.
WAYNESBURG — The Waynesburg Central girls’ soccer team put forth a solid effort at home against Uniontown with five second half goals, en route to a dominating, 7-1 Section 1-AA victory Wednesday.
“We have been up and down this year,” Lady Radiers coach Chris Benson said. “It seems to happen to us every year, but at least this year we are healthy and we are ready to go in the second half of the section schedule. We came out flat a couple of times this year, but we just need to refocus and finish around the net. We need to find ways to score.”
As both teams begin the second half of their section schedule, Waynesburg will have some critical games coming up if they want to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.
The Raiders will play at Greensburg Salem today at 4 p.m. in a pivotal match-up with both teams looking up at Yough and Mt. Pleasant in the standings.
“These next couple of games are huge for us,” Coach Benson said. “We still control our own destiny for the playoffs. From here on out, every game is like a playoff game and is a must win. It’s always a low-scoring game against Greensburg Salem, and we just have to find ways to put the ball in the back of the net. I will take a 1-0 win any day of the week.”
Tayler Benson led the Raiders’ (6-4-1, 4-3) offense in the lopsided victory with four goals and an assist.
The first marker of the night came off the leg of Anna Artkowsky at the 32:33 mark for the Lady Raiders. Benson assisted on the opening goal.
Benson continued her scoring spree with a goal four minutes later to put Waynesburg up 2-0 over Uniontown (0-8, 0-7). Casey Swartz garnered the helper on the goal.
Near the half way mark of the first half, Waynesburg put in some reserves that played the remainder of the half and still limited Uniontown to only two shots.
One minute into the second half the Raiders tallied their third goal of the game via a kick in front of the net by Makayla Moore.
Benson added her second goal of the game, as she found the back of the net at the 34:18 mark of the second half. Morgan Kijowski assisted on the goal.
A minute later Uniontown reached the scoreboard with a long shot from Haley Peck that took a weird bounce and found its way past Waynesburg’s goalkeeper.
The Raiders responded a couple of minutes later with two goals by Benson in a span of 22 seconds to secure the victory. Swartz assisted on both of the goals.
Shelby Rozinksy ended the scoring on the night with a goal at the 4:29 mark for Waynesburg.
“We played a lot of kids today and got some other kids rested for this upcoming slate of games,” Coach Benson said. “It was important for us to get a big lead and rely on our second unit to come in and still play with that consistency of our first unit. I was really excited to see the effort of our younger girls and they had a lot of opportunities to finish around the net.”
Julia Camps and Josie Evans each recorded one save for the home team in net, as each played a half for Waynesburg.
Uniontown’s Alexis Rider drew the loss, but collected nine stops in between the pipes.